Gaddafi in meat locker amid burial indecision

Burial bickering: Libyans hold up a photo of former dictator Moamar Gaddafi

AFP: Mahmud Turkia

Even in death former Libyan Leader Moamar Gaddafi is causing conflict in Libya with a decision yet to be reached on how, when and where to bury his corpse.

The indecision comes as Libyan and world leaders turn their eyes to the future.

Some National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders say Gaddafi will be buried within 24 hours in line with Islamic tradition, but others have suggested "keeping him in the freezer for a few days... to make sure everybody knows he's dead".

The NTC has been cagey about the potential whereabouts of his burial, not wishing to see his grave become a rallying point for residual loyalists.

The indecision comes amid lingering question marks over exactly how the slain despot, who died after being shot in the legs and head on Thursday in his home town of Sirte, met his end.

"He will get his right like any Muslim, his body will be washed and treated with dignity. I expect he will be buried in a Muslim cemetery within 24 hours," NTC commander Abdul-Salam Eleiwa said in Misrata, where fighters are keeping Gaddafi's body in a large cold store in an old market area.

The body is lying on a mattress in the cold storage plant, formerly used for meat and other produce.

Under Islam he should have been buried quickly but they have to reach an agreement whether he is to be buried in Misrata, Sirte, or somewhere else.

Anonymous NTC official

Shown to fighters and reporters, it bore a bullet hole in the side of the head, as well as a large bruise on one side and scratch marks.

There was some blood on the body, though far less than seen in a video of Gaddafi shortly after his capture.

Another NTC commander said members of Gaddafi's tribe were in contact with a group of anti-Gaddafi fighters to discuss the possibility of taking on the task of burying him.

If the tribesmen are prepared to acknowledge Gaddafi as their kinsmen, the group will hand over his body to Gaddadfa members and give them the responsibility of burying it at a secret location, Abdel Majid Mlegta said.

Mr Mlegta said if the tribesman were unwilling to accept Gaddafi, then the NTC fighters themselves would bury his body discretely, along with those of gunmen from his entourage who were killed with him.

But there were signs on Friday of a dispute between NTC and fighters from Misrata, a stronghold of the rebel movement that brought Gaddafi down with help from NATO, over where to bury the strongman who ruled for 42 years.

I told them to keep it in the freezer for a few days... to make sure that everybody knows he is dead.

NTC official Ali Tarhouni

"They are not agreeing on the place of burial," said an NTC official who declined to be named. "Under Islam he should have been buried quickly but they have to reach an agreement whether he is to be buried in Misrata, Sirte, or somewhere else."

NTC official Ali Tarhouni, who is oil minister in the interim government, said a decision had not yet been made.

"I told them to keep it in the freezer for a few days... to make sure that everybody knows he is dead," he said.

Asked about the burial arrangements, including where he would be buried, he said: "There is no decision yet."

Mr Tarhouni also said a decision on who would be prime minister of Libya's interim government would be made "most likely next week", adding that he was a contender.

He said the NTC had set a rough timetable of eight months for drafting a new constitution and then holding elections, but added: "I think it will be longer than eight months".

What happened?

Gaddafi was captured alive in his home town of Sirte, 100 kilometres east of Misrata, but died later while in the hands of fighters in circumstances that are still unclear.

It appears it was a NATO airstrike that initially struck a convoy Gaddafi was in - killing many of his bodyguards and other offsiders, and prompting him to hide in a drain, where he was eventually caught.

NTC leaders claim he was shot in the head when he was caught "in crossfire" between his supporters and new regime fighters soon after his capture at the sewage culvert where he had taken refuge.

However, there is wide speculation he was summarily executed by his captors.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has called for an investigation, while in London, foreign secretary William Hague made it clear Britain does not approve of "extrajudicial killing".

Gaddafi's son Moutassim was also killed in Thursday's gunfire in Sirte. Another son, Saif al-Islam, is said to be fleeing south from Sirte towards Libya's border with Niger.

His prospects of mounting a serious challenge however are over.

Gaddafi's wife, Aisha, who found refuge in neighbouring Algeria while her husband and several sons kept their word to fight to the death, demanded an inquiry from the United Nations into her husband and son's death.

While Gaddafi's death all but spells the end of the flagging resistance, the confusion over exactly how he died and where to bury his body is a reminder of the challenges Libyans face to now summon order out of the armed chaos that is the legacy of eight months of grinding conflict.

Moving forward

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has said it will make an announcement tomorrow declaring Libya's complete liberation, which will then clear the way for elections.

Any interim government faces a huge challenge to rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure, disarm thousands of Libyans who have taken part in the war, and attempt to reunite the country.

NATO leaders have met to review the organisation's air campaign in Libya.

The decision will be made in coordination with the UN and Libya's interim government.

Western leaders are anxious the country avoids taking a similar path to Iraq in the aftermath of the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who spearheaded a Franco-British move in NATO to back the revolt against Gaddafi, hailed a turn of events that few had expected so soon, since there had been little evidence that Gaddafi himself was in Sirte.

But he also alluded to fears that, without the glue of hatred for Gaddafi, the new Libya could descend, like post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, into bloody factionalism.

"The liberation of Sirte must signal... the start of a process... to establish a democratic system in which all groups in the country have their place and where fundamental freedoms are guaranteed," he said.

Search for truth

Some have expressed regret about the nature Gaddafi's death, saying they were hoping to see him tried in court.

It is a setback to campaigners seeking the full truth about the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland of Pan Am flight 103 which claimed 270 lives, mainly Americans, and for which one of Gaddafi's agents was convicted.

Jim Swire, the father of one of the Lockerbie victims, said "there is much still to be resolved and we may now have lost an opportunity for getting nearer the truth".

Dr Swire says he is disappointed that Gaddafi will not be interrogated.

"As far as the victims of Lockerbie are concerned, I think it's sad that this man was captured alive and then killed by his captors," he said.

"I had hoped forlornly that if he were captured the captors would allow him to be extradited to the International Criminal Court and his voice might have helped us in our search for the truth."

But Kathy Tedeschi, whose first husband Bill Daniels died in the atrocity, was less measured, saying "I hope he's in hell with Hitler".

Gaddafi ruled Libya for more than four decades until the Arab Spring reached Libya in February, leading to a civil war.